Steal This House: A Big East Village Two-Bedroom for $349,000

The price dropped sharply on the 1,350-square foot space, a block south of Division, which also has a sweet 450-square-foot deck.

By Dennis Rodkin

Published April 2, 2013

Photograph: Courtesy of Redfin

List Price: $349,000The Property: There’s ample space both indoors and out at this two-bedroom duplex condo in East Village. Indoors: about 1,350 square feet, including two large second-floor bedrooms, each with its own full bath “and room for a couch or desk” as well as the bed, according to the listing agent, Justin Francek. Outdoors: a 450-square-foot deck.

The sellers paid $377,000 for the condo in 2005, according to the Cook County Recorder of Deeds; at $349,000 they’re asking 92.5% of that.

They had been asking as high as $389,000 when they had it on the market from mid-2009 until mid-2010; they put it back on the market in February at $359,900, and then changed agents and prices on March 30.

The lower price brought out potential buyers; Francek said Monday that two days after listing it, he already had five appointments to show it. “Under $350,000 is where this one needed to be,” Francek says. He says one thing that has been keeping it from selling is that the primary main-floor space—a combined living, dining and kitchen area—is short on natural light. As you can see in the photos, there are only clerestory-like windows at the top of the wall there; the building’s garage is on the other side of that wall.

A third- and fourth-floor condo in the building (that doesn’t suffer from that light deficit and is slightly larger) was priced at $399,000. It’s under contract now. One source in the building says bidders took its price up over $410,000, though I can’t confirm that until the sale closes.

The 18-unit building, converted from an earlier industrial use, is in a fine location, half a block south of great Division Street dining and shopping, and with all the other amenities of Wicker Park to the north and Ukrainian Village to the west. Dozens of new single-family homes have been built in the immediate neighborhood in the post-boom years. Real estate agent Gary Lucido mapped them on his blog last summer.

Note to real estate agents and for-sale-by-owner sellers: Every other Tuesday in this new feature, I’ll spotlight a recently listed property that is demonstrably well priced. Send me possibilities at dennis@rodkin.com.